Konstantin Lagaev, Dombra

Abstract

According to Konstantin, dombra is not only a musical instrument, but its structure contains information on the history of the Kalmyks. For example, a hole in the middle represents Lake Baikal in Siberia; marks underneath the two strings show the number of battles fought by the Kalmyks on their way from Dzungaria to Kalmykia; the first string symbolizes the route of the Kalmyks to Kalmykia, south of Russia, while the second string symbolizes the exodus of half of the Kalmyk population back to Dzungaria in 1771; the upper part of the instrument’s body represents Kalmykia.